THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thanks for the warm
welcome. And thanks for inviting me for your 105th national
convention. I'm proud to be here. (Applause.)

One of the great honors of being Commander-in-Chief is meeting the
courageous men and women who stand watch for freedom. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to look them in the eye and say on behalf of our
country, thank you for your service. (Applause.) The same is true of
each of you here today. When the enemies of freedom were on the march,
and our country and the world needed brave Americans to take up arms
and stop their advance, you stepped forward to serve. And today, I'm
proud to stand before you as Commander-in-Chief, look you in the eye,
and say, America thanks you for your service. (Applause.)

I want to thank Ed Banas for his service in being an effective
commander of the VFW. I appreciate the job he's done, and I want to
thank his wife, Sandra, for standing by his side during this important
time for the VFW. Ed, thank you, sir, for your service. (Applause.)

I also thank my friend, Bob Wallace, the Executive Director of the
VFW. I want to thank Governor Bob Taft for joining us today, from the
state of Ohio; my friend, Tony Principi -- I'll say something about him
here in a minute; and Congressman Rob Portman, Congressman from Ohio is with us, as well. I'm honored that these elected officials -- and in
Principi's case, appointed official -- is with us today.

I want to thank John Furgess, the incoming VFW National
Commander-in-Chief, and Alma. I want to thank Evelyn McCune, the VFW
Ladies Auxiliary National President, and her husband, Don. I want to
thank JoAnne Ott. I want to thank the VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members
for letting me come and address you. (Applause.)

In the audience today are two people I've gotten to know during a
very traumatic period during their lives. Carolyn and Keith Maupin are
with us today. They're from this part of the world. Their son, Matt,
has been missing in action for four months in Iraq. I have vowed to
them we will do everything we can to find their loved one, Matt. I
appreciate their courage. I continue to send my prayers to these two
fine Americans during these difficult times for them. May God bless
you, Keith and Carolyn. (Applause.)

The Veterans of Foreign Wars have always stood up for our nation
and those who wear the uniform. Since your founding in 1899, the
members of the VFW have been serving the men and women who served
America. I appreciate your dedication. The VFW and its Ladies
Auxiliary are volunteering by transporting sick and disabled vets to
and from their medical appointments. You're showing great compassion.
You're supporting the men and women who serve today. Some 1,500 VFW
posts have adopted military units deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and
other distant theaters. You've distributed more than 3.5 million
pre-paid calling cards to our deployed forces. You've sent thousands
of care packages to our troops in the field. You've helped the
families back home with groceries and home repairs, and other
necessities. America respects our military and their families. I
thank you for showing that respect every day. (Applause.)

All our nation's veterans have made serving America the highest
priority of their lives, and serving our veterans is one of the highest
priorities of my administration. (Applause.) To make sure my
administration fulfills the commitments I have made to America's
veterans, I selected one of the finest men ever to serve as the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a combat-decorated Vietnam veteran,
Secretary Tony Principi. (Applause.)

Thanks in large part to Tony's leadership, my administration has a
solid record of accomplishment for our veterans. When my 2005 budget
is approved by Congress, we will have increased overall funding for our
nation's veterans by almost $20 billion, or 40 percent, since 2001.
(Applause.) We have increased funding for our veterans more in four
years than the previous administration did in eight years.
(Applause.) To provide health care to veterans, we've increased VA
medical care funding by 41 percent over the past four years.

We are bringing care to more veterans more quickly. Since 2001,
we've enrolled 2.5 million more veterans in health care services.
We've increased out-patient visits from 44 million to 54 million.
We've increased the number of prescriptions filled from 98 million to
116 million. We're getting the job done. (Applause.) We've reduced
the large backlog of disability claims by about a third; we will reduce
it even further. We've cut the average time it takes to process
disability claims by 70 days.

We have focused resources on the veterans who need it most, those
with service-related disabilities and low incomes and special needs.
We've established a new scheduling system to make certain that veterans
seeking care for a service-connected condition are first in line. For
more than a century, federal law prohibited disabled veterans from
receiving both their military retired pay and their VA disability
compensation. Combat-injured and severely disabled veterans deserve
better. I was proud to be the first President in over 100 years to
sign concurrent receipt legislation. (Applause.) We're getting the
job done in Washington, D.C.

My administration has launched a $35 million program to provide
housing and health care and other support services to homeless
veterans. No veteran who served in the blazing heat or bitter cold of
foreign lands should have to live without shelter, exposed to the
elements, in the very country whose freedom they fought for.
(Applause.)

We are modernizing VA health centers, and building new ones,
especially in the South and West, where increasing numbers of our
veterans live. Since 2001, we have opened 194 new community-based
clinics nationwide. And through the CARES initiative, we are providing
$1 billion -- and have requested another half-billion for next year --
to modernize VA facilities, and to provide better care for veterans in
areas where the need is growing, including here in Ohio. (Applause.)

Our VA hospitals are, on average, 50 years old. That's why we are
modernizing our facilities to make sure our veterans have 21st century
health care. For example, here in Ohio, we're building one of the
largest new VA clinics in America in Columbus, Ohio. We're spending
more than $100 million to consolidate two VA hospitals in Cleveland
into a single 21st century facility. When it comes to providing
first-class care for our nation's veterans, we are getting the job
done. (Applause.)

Our nation's debt extends not just to the veterans who served, but
to the families who supported them in war and depend on them today.
Last December, I signed the Veterans Benefits Act, authorizing $1
billion in new and expanded benefits for disabled veterans, and
surviving spouses and their children.

America's veterans have defended America in hours of need. And to
honor the veterans from the Second World War for their service to our
country, the World War II Memorial now stands on the Washington Mall.
And I thank you for your efforts and your hard work to get this
memorial built. And we honor all of those here today who fought to
defend freedom in the Second World War. (Applause.)

Like the Second World War, the war we face today began with a
ruthless, surprise attack on America. The world changed on that
September morning. And since that day, we have changed the world.
(Applause.) Before September the 11th, Afghanistan served as the home
base of al Qaeda, which trained and deployed thousands of killers to
set up terrorist cells around the world, including our own country.
Because we acted, Afghanistan is a rising democracy; Afghanistan is an
ally in the war on terror; Afghanistan is now a place where many young
girls go to school for the first time. America and the world are
safer. (Applause.)

Before September the 11th, Libya was spending millions to acquire
weapons of mass destruction. Today, because America and our allies
sent a clear and strong message, the leader of Libya has abandoned his
pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. America and the world are
safer. (Applause.)

Before September the 11th, the ruler of Iraq was a sworn enemy of
America. He was defying the world. He was firing weapons at American
pilots who were enforcing the world's sanctions. He had pursued and he
had used weapons of mass destruction. He had harbored terrorists. He
invaded his neighbors. He subsidized the families of suicide bombers.
He murdered tens of thousands of his own citizens. He was a source of
instability in the world's most volatile region. He was a threat.

One of the lessons of September the 11th, a lesson this nation must
never forget, is that we must deal with threats before they fully
materialize. (Applause.) I remembered what Saddam Hussein was like; I
looked at the intelligence. I called upon Congress to remember his
history and look at the intelligence. I thought it was important to
bring Congress, get their opinion on the subject of Saddam Hussein. So
members of both political parties, including my opponent, looked at the
same intelligence and came to the same conclusion that I came to:
Saddam Hussein was a threat. I went to the United Nations; the U.N.
Security Council looked at the intelligence and came to the same
conclusion, Saddam Hussein was a threat. As a matter of fact, they
passed a resolution, 15 to nothing, which said to Saddam: disclose,
disarm, or face serious consequences. As he had for the past 12 years,
he refused to comply. He ignored the demands of the free world. He
systematically deceived the weapons inspectors.

So I had a choice to make: either forget the lessons of September
the 11th and trust a madman, or take action to defend America. Given
that choice, I will defend our country every time. (Applause.)

Even though we did not find the stockpiles that we thought we would
find, Saddam Hussein had the capability to make weapons of mass
destruction, and he could have passed that capability on to our enemy,
to the terrorists. It is not a risk, after September the 11th, that we
could afford to take. Knowing what I know today, I would have taken
the same action. America and the world are safer because Saddam
Hussein sits in a prison cell. (Applause.)

We have more hard work to do. I'll continue to work with friends
and allies around the world to aggressively pursue the terrorists in
Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. See, you can't talk sense to these
people. You cannot negotiate with them. You cannot hope for the
best. We must aggressively pursue them and defeat them in foreign
lands, so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

America will continue to lead the world with confidence and moral
clarity. We have put together a strong coalition to help us pursue the
terrorists and spread the peace. There are over 40 nations involved in
Afghanistan, some 30 nations involved in Iraq. I appreciate the
sacrifices of the mothers and fathers from those countries, to have
their sons and daughters stand with our troops to spread freedom and
peace. I'll continue to build on those alliances and work with our
friends for the cause of security and peace. But I will never turn
over America's national security decisions to leaders of other
countries. (Applause.)

We'll keep our commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq; we'll help them
become peaceful and democratic societies. These two nations are now
governed by strong leaders, they're on the path to elections. We set a
clear goal, and Iraq and Afghanistan will be peaceful and democratic
countries that are allies in the war on terror. We will meet that goal
by helping secure their countries, to allowing a peaceful political
process to develop, and by training Afghan and Iraqi forces so they can
make the hard decisions, so they can defend their country against those
who are preventing the spread of freedom. Our military will complete
this mission as quickly as possible so our troops do not stay a day
longer than necessary. (Applause.)

It's important we send the right signals when we speak here in
America. The other day, my opponent said if he's elected, the number
of troops in Iraq will be significantly reduced within six months. I
think it sends the wrong message -- it sends the wrong signal to the
enemy. They could easily wait six months and one day. It sends the
wrong message to our troops, that completing the mission may not be
necessary. It sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people who wonder
whether or not America means what it says. Our friends and allies must
know that when America speaks, we mean what we say. We will stay until
the job is completed. (Applause.)

In the long run, our security is not guaranteed by force along. We
will work to change the conditions that give rise to terror: poverty
and hopelessness and resentment. A free and peaceful Iraq and a free
and peaceful Afghanistan will be powerful, and examples in a
neighborhood that is desperate for freedom. You see, by serving the
ideal of liberty, we are bringing hope to others, and that makes
America more secure. By serving the ideal of liberty, we're spreading
the peace. Free countries do not export terror; free countries are
peaceful countries. And by serving the ideal of liberty, we're serving
the deepest ideals of America. We believe that freedom is not
America's gift to the world, freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each
man and woman in this world. (Applause.)

These are crucial times. We have an historic opportunity to win
the war on terror by spreading freedom and peace. Our commitments are
being kept by the men and women of our military. I've had the
privilege of traveling to bases around our country and around the
world. I've seen their great decency and their unselfish courage. I
assure you, ladies and gentlemen, the cause of freedom is in really
good hands. (Applause.)

Those who wear our uniform deserve the full support of our
government. For almost four years, my administration has strengthened
our military. We have enacted the largest increases in defense
spending since Ronald Reagan served as the Commander-in-Chief. We've
increased military pay by 21 percent. We have provided better housing
and better training and better maintenance.

And last September, while our troops were in combat in Afghanistan
and Iraq, I wanted to make sure they had the very best, so I proposed
supplemental funding to support them in their mission. The legislation
provided funding for body armor and vital equipment, hazard pay, health
benefits, ammunition, fuel, and spare parts. The VFW strongly
supported my request. I thank you for standing up for our troops.
Your work on Capitol Hill paid off; after all, the funding received
strong bipartisan support -- so strong that in the United States
Senate, only 12 members voted against the funding, two of whom were my
opponent and his running mate. (Applause.)

When pressed, he explained his vote -- "I actually did vote for the
$87 billion before I voted against it." (Laughter.) He went on to say
he was proud of the vote, and the whole thing is a "complicated"
matter. There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops in
combat. (Applause.)

We have more work to do to defend freedom and protect our country.
We will ensure that our forces are well-prepared, and well-positioned
to meet the threats of the future. Our Armed Forces have changed a
lot. They're more agile and more lethal, they're better able to strike
anywhere in the world over great distances on short notice. Yet for
decades, America's Armed Forces abroad have essentially remained where
the wars of the last century ended, in Europe and in Asia. America's
current force posture was designed, for example, to protect us and our
allies from Soviet aggression -- the threat no longer exists.

More than three years ago, we launched a comprehensive review of
America's global force posture -- the numbers, types, locations, and
capabilities of U.S. forces around the world. We've consulted closely
with our allies and with Congress; we've examined the challenges posed
by today's threats and emerging threats. And so, today I announce a
new plan for deploying America's Armed Forces.

Over the coming decade, we'll deploy a more agile and more flexible
force, which means that more of our troops will be stationed and
deployed from here at home. We'll move some of our troops and
capabilities to new locations, so they can surge quickly to deal with
unexpected threats. We'll take advantage of 21st century military
technologies to rapidly deploy increased combat power.

The new plan will help us fight and win these wars of the 21st
century. It will strengthen our alliances around the world, while we
build new partnerships to better preserve the peace. It will reduce
the stress on our troops and our military families. Although we'll
still have a significant presence overseas, under the plan I'm
announcing today, over the next 10 years, we will bring home about
60,000 to 70,000 uniformed personnel, and about 100,000 members and
civilian employees -= family members and civilian employees.

See, our service members will have more time on the home front, and
more predictability and fewer moves over a career. Our military
spouses will have fewer job changes, greater stability, more time for
their kids and to spend with their families at home. The taxpayers
will save money, as we configure our military to meet the threats of
the 21st century. There will be savings as we consolidate and close
bases and facilities overseas no longer needed to face the threats of
our time and defend the peace.

The world has changed a great deal, and our posture must change
with it, for the sake of our military families, for the sake of our
taxpayers, and so we can be more effective at projecting our strength
and spreading freedom and peace. (Applause.)

Today, our troops have the most advanced technologies at their
disposal -- weapons are more lethal, more precise than were available
for you. Our troops are more mobile, they can communicate better. Yet
their success in the wars we fight is being made possible by the same
thing that made your success possible: personal courage, love of
country, dedication to duty.

As our troops fight today in Baghdad and Najaf, and the Hindu Kush
mountains and elsewhere, I know America's veterans feel a special pride
in them. They're carrying on your legacy of sacrifice and service.
They're determined to see the mission through. This country stands
with them.

I want to thank you for the example you have set for our men and
women in uniform. I want to thank you for your idealism, for your
dedication to God and our country. May God bless you all. And may God
continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.) Thank you
all very much. (Applause.)